Tag: pedestrians

If high viz is so important, why don’t US police lead by example?

It’s that time of the year again, when you leave work at your usual time and suddenly get hit with a blast of 10pm darkness. Although the thermometer says “perfect biking and walking weather,” our corporate overlords demand we work our regular hours, which happen to extend past sunset. As such, the evening commute becomes a nighttime affair.

Cue the “be visible” safety campaigns kicking into high gear. The Boston Globe has an article on being visible at night:

In self-defense, “push yourself into the driver’s awareness as much
as you can” by exploiting biological motion, said Jonathan Dobres, a
research scientist at MIT’s AgeLab. “Make yourself as big and bright and
reflective as you can. You’re really helping the brain of a driver
figure out, ‘Oh, that’s not a road sign, that’s a person moving
around.’ ”
Boston Globe Click to read more!

Three pedestrians killed in one Fresno day

Saturday was quite the bloodbath for pedestrians out in Fresno area streets this Saturday.

17 year old skateboarder killed in mountain community. Bee report says he “ignored” the stop sign, but stop signs do not legally apply to skateboarders, which California law considers as pedestrians (as it does for roller skates and wheelchairs). Either the Bee made a mistake, or more likely, the CHP person they spoke to failed to understand California law. As such, the motorist is considered 100% innocent, and a kid is dead, a kid who may have been in the crosswalk (impossible to tell from report). Click to read more!

A satellite view of what’s new in Fresno

Two weeks ago, Google refreshed their satellite imagery of the Fresno region with pictures taken on August 26, 2012, replacing what was seen on April 25, 2011.

Here’s a brief tour of the more significant changes in that year and a half. Some good, some bad. There’s a good amount of positive changes downtown, but many not so good changes on the urban edge.

I’m providing a link to the map, if you want to explore the area on your own, and also when relevant, a post I may have written on the subject.

NOTE: Google keeps defaulting to the 45 degree view, which is old, from 2010. On the right, hover over the map button and then click 45 to disable that and see the most recent images. On the other hand, this gives you a quick way to compare the changes. Click to read more!

Rail-trail land grab

In his Sunday column in the Fresno Bee, Bill McEwen informs us of a plan by a restaurant owner to grab some of the right-of-way used by the Fresno-Clovis rail trail and convert it to private restaurant space.

While the land-grab wouldn’t decrease the size of the currently paved path, it would take a large portion of the publicly held land, and so block any future improvements, including something in the far-future, like a rail-transit line. It would also remove mature vegetation which makes the path comfortable to use.

Most importantly, it would take public land, held by the city and useable by all, and privatize it. Walls would be built and only paying customers would have access during business hours. If the business were to fail, then nobody would have access to the walled off section. Click to read more!

A transit trip to LA – Amtrak, Metro, Universal

Some thought from my weekend trip to LA to see a concert at the Gibson Amphitheater at Universal.

Including thoughts on Amtrak’s San Joaquin, the LA subway and the infrastructure around Universal City.

Note: My D key is not always working, I’ve done my best to find errors, but I may have missed one or two.

I’ve ridden the San Joaquin many times before, but I was surprised to see something I hadn’t seen – a train car that wasn’t the standard California Car I’m used to. It was made fairly obvious by the fact that there was only one boarding door, and it was baggage only. Click to read more!

Clovis: A pedestrian-oriented development without any sidewalks…?

In 1993, the Clovis General Plan called for the concept of “Urban Centers” to be included in future sprawl/growth.

In 2003, after years of work, the “Loma Vista Specific Plan” was released, setting (what appeared to be) strict guidelines on the development set to happen as the city took over agricultural land to its east at the southern edge of the city. The city was ready to grow and it appeared that they wanted to correct at least some of the mistakes of previous sprawl expansion.

Rough Boundary of Loma Vista Plan area. Residential development is clearly underway in the west. The majority is still prime agriculture, for now.
Photobucket Click to read more!

Being a pedestrian on Blackstone, in pictures

Blackstone Ave is by far Fresno’s busiest north/south route. It begins downtown near the biggest regional hospital (as Abbey) and then heads north, passing by Fresno City College. It then passes by the first suburban mall in the city (Manchester), continues north near the second suburban mall (Fashion) and then onward to the newest shopping mecca, River Park.

Along the way, there are a series of “zones” where auto-centric businesses cluster together, from an area of mostly motels, to an area of mostly car dealerships. Fast food outlets litter the sides, include the 10th Mcdonalds ever built. Click to read more!

20 year old arrested for hit-and-run killing of pedestrian

I recently posted a news story about how a pedestrian in a wheelchair was killed in Fresno after being hit by not one, but two cars who fled the seen. Fortunately, because it was a busy time, there were sufficient witnesses.

I lamented that stories like that rarely get a follow up…there are dozens of pedestrian deaths every year and Fresno, and most get less news coverage than a house fire (with no injuries or deaths). I’ve yet to see an article along the lines of “12 hit and run murderers still at large.”

This time, Fresno PD and the Bee have followed up with this short article letting us readers know what has progressed in the case. Click to read more!

Wouldn’t it be nice if media followed up on hit and runs?

It’s sad to say it, but I feel like a read a story very similar to the following every couple of weeks.

A man in a wheelchair was killed after he was struck by two vehicles while crossing Blackstone Avenue in his wheelchair Saturday evening, Fresno police Lt. Anthony Martinez said.

The man was crossing the street when he was struck by one vehicle that witnesses described as a compact car, Martinez said.

He was thrown from his wheelchair and was hit a second time by another vehicle that witnesses described as a tan-colored SUV, possibly a Chevy Tahoe.

Both drivers left the scene, Martinez said. Click to read more!

Teenage student hit by car, guess who gets the blame

Last Thursday, a teenage girl was hit by a car at 6:30am while walking to her local bus stop.

Police are still trying to piece together what happened. They said incident happened just before sunrise and witnesses say the road was dark which may have contributed to the crash.

The Central High East student attempted to cross Brawley Avenue to get to a bus stop near her house. Neighbor Jeffrey Holland said he was riding his bike home from a nearby shopping center when the girl was struck near the center-divide.

“I was coming around the corner from the recycling base, heard a boom — and the paramedics were there quick,” said Jeffrey Holland, “The windshield was blown in the car, roof was smashed back, the doors were popped open, it looked really bad.” Click to read more!